Heckler and Koch fans rejoice! H&K company has been listening to you. A Document received by TFB, dated a week ago, show that Heckler & Koch GmbH (Germany) applied to Germany’s  Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) to sell a semi-automatic version of the famous H&K MP5K and H&K MP5SD on the civilian market. The application was approved by the Police with some caveats. The new guns are called the HK SP5k and HK SC5SD.

HK SC5SD 9mm Carbine

HK SP5SD Close Up

German law distinguishes between pistols and rifles by barrel length (barrel and bolt less/more than than 30cm when closed) and by overall length (length less/longer than 60cm when stock closed/folded). Both these guns were approved to be classified as semi-automatic pistols. What is interesting is that the HK SC5SD, with its fixed stock, is 78cm in length and is 64.2cm from the end of the receiver to the front of the suppressor. According to the documents, the HK SC5SD may also be fitted with a sliding stock (like for example the MP5A3). The barrel of the HK SC5SD is 15.5 cm (6.1″, this is actually slightly longer than the original HK MP5SD) with an overall bolt/barrel length of 23 cm. Given that suppressors are difficult to own in Germany, we believe that the suppressor is a faux suppressor that is there for looks only and does not suppress sound. This may be why H&K applied to have the pistol classified as a pistol not a rifle. If the suppressor was removed and the fixed stock is replaced by a sliding stock, it would legally be a pistol in Germany.

HK SP5k 9mm Pistol

HK SP5K 9mm Pistol

The HK SP5K has a 11.8cm (4.6″, roughly the same length as the HK MP5K) long barrel, slightly longer than the HK SC5SD. The overall length of the gun is 34cm with the handguard installed and 30.6cm without the handguard. Like the SC5SD, it will be supplied with standard H&K iron sights.

Both the HK SP5K and HK SC5SD are said to be supplied with 30 round magazines, although they will plan on making magazines with different capacities in the future.

Unfortunately for our German friends, these guns were not approved for sport (target) shooting. This is because it is a semi-automatic gun with a military appearance, has a barrel less than 16.5″ and uses cartridges less than 4cm in length (a 5.56x45mm semi-automatic AK is legal, for example, but not one chambered in 7.62x39mm or .22 LR). These guns could be purchased by collectors or by hunters (to use as a gun to finish off game, it would not be legal to actually use for hunting game).

A potential future class of users would be armed security guards on ships. There is a law being drafted in Germany to regulate armed security guards on maritime vessels. The law would prevent “weapons of war” or fully-automatic guns from being used to guard ships. These types of semi-automatic guns would be perfect for them as an alternative to real submachine guns.

Now many of our readers will want to know if H&K (Germany) will be exporting these guns to the USA and elsewhere. Decades ago H&K exported the HK94 Carbine, a semi-automatic 16″ barreled version of the MP5, and the HK SP89, a semi-automatic version of the MP5K, to the USA. Today these are highly sought after guns and worth $3,000 to $6,000+ (depending on condition). Gun owners without that kind of money have had to make do with guns built from part kits or clones imported from Turkey.

The good news is that Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) have declared that the HK SC5SD and HK SP5K are not “weapons of war”. This makes them easier to export. The HK SC5SD in its current form is unlikely to be imported into the USA because the BATFE would not classify it as a “sporting gun”. There is no reason why the HK SP5K could not be imported into the USA as a pistol. We fully expect HK-USA will be importing these in the future. There is a huge demand for them.

Many thanks to our friends who provided the documents and our friends who translated them for us.